Exploring older adults hospital to home discharge experiences
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the hospital to home discharge experience for a diverse population of older adults living in Birmingham.
IRAS ID
335491
Contact name
Judith Dyson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Birmingham City University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 0 days
Research summary
Current knowledge about older people’s experiences of the hospital to home discharge is limited. More detailed reporting of individual demographics and personal circumstances would enrich our understanding of the older person's unique hospital to home discharge experience in different contexts. This more detailed understanding might serve to advance service improvement strategies supporting the design of effective, humanised and person-centred discharge processes. This study will explore hospital to home discharge experiences for a diverse group of older people. The objectives for this study are, i) to explore older adults' perspectives regarding the hospital to home discharge experience, ii) to understand what matters to older adults, iii) to investigate older adults' perspectives around what went well and what could have been better following their discharge home from hospital.
I will recruit 10 home dwelling older people aged 65+ currently admitted to a local acute hospital who are eligible for discharge home following hospitalisation, who have capacity to consent and the ability to communicate in English as this is the researcher’s spoken language. If a patient prefers for a family member or informal carer to be present, I will be seeking permission and consent to be involved in the interview process. I will also invite 10 healthcare professionals for a short interview around their experience of facilitating discharge for this individual. All participants will be made aware of the voluntary nature of the research and that they can withdraw from this study up until the point of anonymised data transcription.
I will collect information in two phases. Phase one will involve interviewing older people +/- their family/informal carer and healthcare professionals regarding their experiences, feelings and thoughts around hospital to home discharge. Phase two will involve follow-on interviews with consenting older people up to four weeks following discharge home. Finally, throughout Phase 1 and 2 of this study, the researcher will generate anonymised field notes and compile reflexive diary entries.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/YH/0251
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jan 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion